Cub Scouts have two “Specialty” badges: Individual and Pack. What that means is the requirements aren’t set out by Scouts Canada. The individual specialty is a badge designed by the Cub. They figure out a topic, set some requirements, have the leaders approve it then go to work.
Pack specialty is designed by the leaders for the whole Pack. Greg and I are both Cub leaders, so we did beekeeping with our packs this week. On Thursday, my group (1st Verona) went down to Kingston to join Greg’s group (1st Bayridge) at their regular meeting where Greg and I did our song and dance.
It’s not often that you find a topic that will keep the interest of 18 8-10-year-olds, but I guess stinging insects is one of those things. We blathered on about bees and body parts and honey and comb and pollination for an hour and still managed to keep their attention. I wish adults were like that. 🙂
This morning, we put the theoretical to work and introduced them all to a working hive: I don’t currently have a topbar here at the house, so we had to settle for a langstroth. It needed a bunch of work, anyway: we did a full inspection and we able to show them everything but the queen. One of the boxes had to be replaced, so we did that as well.
This is the second time that we’ve done this with the Cubs and we’re 2 for 2 with no stings and gorgeous weather. A reporter came as well, so we’ll see what comes of that. Scouting can always use some publicity and she did send me a great picture: